Author: Fox News

Teachers and policy experts are pushing back after the state of Minnesota’s education licensing board voted to overhaul their standards and require new teachers to adopt core aspects of critical race theory and gender ideology.

According to the updated “Standards of Effective Practice,” promulgated by Minnesota’s Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board (PELSB), educators are required to commit to affirming various and “diverse perspectives on race, culture, language, sexual identity, ability,” etc. in the classroom to be licensed educators.

The new passages added to existing standards with several multiple passages suggesting teachers need to affirm “students’ background and identities” to acquire a teaching license in the state. The rules will go into effect by 2025.

Rebecca Friedrichs, a twenty-eight-year public school teacher and the founder of “For Kids and Country,” told Fox News Digital that every single “buzzword” from the far-left political agenda is listed in the new standards.

CALIFORNIA PUBLIC SCHOOLS ‘SATURATED’ WITH TEACHERS WHO LEARNED CRITICAL RACE THEORY WHEN TRAINING: REPORT

Yorba Linda, CA, Tuesday, November 16, 2021 – The Placentia Yorba Linda School Board discusses a proposed resolution to ban teaching critical race theory in schools.  
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

“We are hired to educate children, not push a political agenda. And we are hired to serve children and their parents and work in connection with them,” she said. 

The document states that teachers must cultivate “opportunities for students to learn about power, privilege, intersectionality, and systemic oppression in the context of various communities” and mold their students to become “agents of social change to promote equity.”

In addition, teachers are told to learn and understand the impacts of “systemic trauma” and how racism and “micro and macro aggressions” contribute to adverse learning outcomes.

“We’re being told by a teaching licensing board, and by a union that claims to represent us, and by legislators that claim to represent we the people—that we’re forced to do this,” Friedrichs said.

She added that teachers in the state are “trapped” and must choose to either lose their jobs or do things against their own conscience or even common sense and science.

Friedrichs also claimed that many of the problems in Minnesota and schools across the country are the fault of teachers’ unions. She described a system in which unions and their friends put into office the people the unions choose, not necessarily the people that teachers or citizens want.

In Minnesota, governors can appoint the governing boards that come up with the teachers’ licensing standards.

‘SHOCKING’ VIDEO EXPOSES SCHOOL OFFICIALS PLOTTING TO ‘TRICK’ OHIO PARENTS, TEACH CRT

Residents of Loudoun County, Virginia, helped make critical race theory a national conversation in 2021. 
(REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)

Teachers’ unions in the state spend millions on glossy flyers with “cleverly written language” to confuse people to vote against their values and get the governor of their choice into office, according to Friedrichs.

She claimed that the entire board that came up with this Minnesota teacher licensing is politicized, being funded and promoted and lobbied by the very people that put them into office or put into office the people who appointed them, while teachers are ignored.

“This is called bullying. These are mafia tactics. This is being run by a cartel,” Friedrichs said.

Catrin Wigfall, a Policy Fellow at the Center of the American Experiment, told Fox News Digital that the new rule changes will affect any aspiring teacher in the state, whether they work for public or private schools. It will also impact teachers getting a license through teacher prep providers, those completing an initial T3 license, including adult learners who do not go through traditional additional preparation programs.

She said that the rule changes could violate teachers’ religious liberties and exacerbate teachers’ shortages.

The changes also present a grey area regarding whether the rule changes when it comes to current teachers trying to renew their licenses. PELSB has said that these standards will not impact licensing renewal processes, but the American experiment is skeptical because of ambiguous language pulled from and inspired by Illinois.

NYC FORCES ALL CITY EMPLOYEES TO UNDERGO RADICAL CRITICAL RACE THEORY TRAINING: ‘REALLY UNFAIR’

Illinois has similar board rule changes that apply to current teachers. Several other states are expected to follow suit.

The board rule changes in Minnesota are approved not by legislatures but by a chief administrative law judge who will review these changes and identify whether they are within the scope of the board and approve or disapprove them.

The rule changes should not impact curriculum, which is determined by school boards and do not impact standards and best practices which the department of education reviews. However, they do set the tone and establish the framework for the mindset of educators.

Wigfall said the affirmations present in the new standard could violate religious liberties, which PELSB has refuted in post-public comments. Additionally, they could discourage teachers from a wide variety of religious and ethnic backgrounds from entering the profession when the state is trying to increase diversity. She said that court action is coming down the pipeline from educators soon impacted by the rule changes.

Wigfall took issue with a passage that said to empower learners to be “agents of social change.” She said the language is concerning because it will encourage teachers to turn students into activists, which is different from the goal of education. That part was originally disapproved by a judge but was overturned by the chief administrative law judge.

NORTH CAROLINA PROFESSOR FILES LAWSUIT, CLAIMS HE WAS FIRED FOR CRITICIZING CRITICAL RACE THEORY

Wigfall took issue with a passage that said to empower learners to be “agents of social change.”
(iStock / Amazon)

“I fear that the classroom will be encouraged to be a space for students to become social justice activists, social justice warriors, and that I think will politicize the classroom and turn it into an ideological battleground,” she said.

Wigfall added that teachers are being asked to prioritize political and social activism in classrooms at a time when like Minnesota, Illinois students are underperforming on basic skills tests.

Friedrichs said teachers need to disengage from the unions if they are interested in combating the new standards.

She said that teachers are trapped in the “unionized monopoly,” and many don’t know that they are no longer required to pay the unions anymore.

Friedrichs and nine other California teachers previously brought a lawsuit against the unions and on June 27, 2018, teachers were freed from forced unionism.

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Most people don’t know they’ve been freed because the unions passed all kinds of laws in many states that say government employers are not allowed to tell the employees that they have been freed of the union, according to Friedrichs.

“They might harass you, they’ll probably bully you, but we have to be courageous and stand up against these wicked people who are truly damaging our kids and our freedoms,” she said. 

A Staten Island, New York, man facing manslaughter charges after crashing his car so violently into a pole that the vehicle split into three, his pregnant fiancé tossed from the vehicle and unborn baby ripped from the mother’s womb, found out just minutes before court on Monday that both had died, according to reports.

The New York Post reported that Adem Nikeziq, 30, appeared before a judge for the first time on Monday, crying uncontrollably after his attorney, Mark Fonte, broke the news to him about his fiancé, 23-year-old Adriana Sylmetaj, and unborn daughter.

A Staten Island, New York, man accused of driving drunk allegedly crashed into a utility pole, splitting the vehicle into three parts, ejecting his pregnant fiancé, and ripping the baby out of her womb, according to reports.
(New York Post/Seth Gottfried)

“No one told him that his fiancé and baby had passed,” Fonte told The Post. “He found out minutes ago, just before he came out [into the courtroom]. When I told him, he broke down crying, sobbing. He was at first completely in disbelief.”

Adem Nikeziq becomes emotional as he sits in a wheelchair inside at court on Jan. 30, 2023. 
(Dennis A. Clark)

NEW YORK PREGNANT WOMAN DIES AFTER CAR DRIVEN BY BEAU SLAMS INTO ELECTRICAL POLE: POLICE

Adem Nikeziq sobs as he sits in a wheelchair inside at his State Island arraignment on Jan. 30, 2023. 
(Dennis A. Clark)

New York City Police said on Sunday that Nikeziq was charged with manslaughter, criminal negligent homicide, vehicular assault, assault, DWI, reckless endangerment, and driving while ability impaired by alcohol in a fatal wreck.

A Staten Island, New York, man accused of driving drunk allegedly crashed into a utility pole, splitting the vehicle into three parts, ejecting his pregnant fiancé, and ripping the baby out of her womb, according to reports.
(New York Post/Seth Gottfried)

In court, he reportedly was wheeled in on a wheelchair while wearing a hospital gown.

‘GRUESOME’ UPSTATE NEW YORK CRASH BETWEEN TRUCK, BUS LEAVES AT LEAST 6 DEAD

Police said officers responded to a 911 call of a single-car crash on Hylan Boulevard.

Adem Nikeziq sits in a wheelchair in Staten Island Arraignment court. 
(Dennis A. Clark)

A preliminary investigation found Nikeziq was driving the Dodge Challenger southbound on Hylan Boulevard when he lost control of the vehicle.

A Staten Island, New York, man accused of driving drunk allegedly crashed into a utility pole, splitting the vehicle into three parts, ejecting his pregnant fiancé, and ripping the baby out of her womb, according to reports.
(New York Post/Seth Gottfried)

The vehicle came to a final stop after it struck a wooden utility pole and splitting into three parts, police said.

NEW MEXICO SCHOOL BUS FAILED TO YIELD BEFORE COLLISION 

Adem Nikeziq becomes learns of his family’s fate inside Staten Island Arraignment court.
(Dennis A. Clark)

Nikeziq suffered minor injuries, police added, and was extricated from the vehicle and transported to Staten Island University Hospital by EMS, listed in stable condition.

Sylmetaj was pronounced dead at the scene.

A Staten Island, New York, man accused of driving drunk allegedly crashed into a utility pole, splitting the vehicle into three parts, ejecting his pregnant fiancé, and ripping the baby out of her womb, according to reports.
(New York Post/Seth Gottfried)

“She was found at the intersection,” Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Agostino, The Post reported, told Judge Raja Rajeswari. “Her severed leg was found 20 feet past her body. Her unborn child, ripped from her body, was found 20 feet past her leg.”

Adem Nikeziq becomes emotional as he sits in a wheelchair on Jan. 30, 2023. 
(Dennis A. Clark)

Prosecutors also said the crash happened after a night of drinking, and Nikeziq was allegedly speeding in and out of traffic on Hylan Boulevard before losing control of the Dodge Challenger and smashing into a wall.

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Rajeswari ordered Nikeziq be held on $400,000 cash bail or $700,000 bond. He is due back in court in Staten Island on Thursday.

Happy Monday, everybody. So everyone’s condemned the footage of the beating death of Tyree Nichols by five Black cops, including even Barack Obama and Donald Trump. Finally, unity. It’s the most they’ve been in agreement since deciding Stephen Colbert isn’t funny. But I’m glad we’re finally talking about Black on Black crime. Of course, though, it involves cops. You know the line. If it bleeds, it leads. It only works if it leads to the cops and maybe great white sharks. It helps that they’re white.

But these five officers aren’t. Can they still be racist? It’s hard to say because they and the victims are Black. And so it presents a quandary to the left who hates cops but doesn’t want to put Black criminals in jail. So what do you do next? Well, you erase race, but just this once.

[VIDEO]

WHOOPI GOLDBERG: When will the brutality finally lead to some police reform from the ground up? Because clearly, it doesn’t matter if it’s a White policeman or a Black policeman. It is a problem in the police and the policing itself.

GREG GUTFELD: TRANS ACTIVISTS ARE ‘BOILING MAD’ OVER A VIDEO GAME JK ROWLING HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH

So now race doesn’t matter. Well, what if it didn’t matter before and you just thought it did because that’s all the damn media focused on? And now perhaps all this incident did was show you that by eliminating race as a variable and you see the real causes. That’s got to be good, right? Well, hold on. Because you still need your dose of racism. And now it’s about who trained them. Translation. White people. That has to be it. I mean, hell, even Mike Tyson was trained by a White guy.

So there’s your in, race baiters. Someone else must have taught them how to behave this way. Systemic racism for the win. Van Jones writes on CNN’s website that Blacks aren’t “immune to anti-Black messages.” He blames “self-hatred,” which is bound to happen if you end up writing for CNN. I’m sorry, Van. But he claims Blacks are socialized into departments that view neighborhoods as war zones, a place where rule books don’t apply. So Blacks are more apt to single out young Black men for abuse. But the problem here is the phrase “single out.” Were there more choices in that neighborhood than Black? Probably not. It’s like bragging that you bought something for a buck at the dollar store.

So if all these choices for the Black cop is just Black, then it’s not race. Just like it might have been not about race for a lot of those other cops. But while this latest crime tells you it’s not about race, Van still says, hold on. Quote, “It’s hard to imagine five cops of any color beating a White person to death under similar circumstances.” Well, you would have to imagine it because no one would cover it. The fact is, we have just as many incidents of unarmed White guys getting killed. They just don’t hype them up and release them like a movie over and over and over again.

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So, if Whites train Blacks to hate other Blacks so they’ll beat on other Blacks as opposed to other Whites well? If they can get Blacks to call Larry Elder an Uncle Tom, I’d say yes. But the fact is, minority officers are just as likely to shoot a minority, and some data suggest more likely. And why? Well, they’re in that neighborhood more frequently, more often and on purpose. It’s their job to be there. It’s where more arrests are made and where more encounters, violent or otherwise take place. But let’s not let White racism off the hook either. It’s what brings us everything from Kamala Harris to cringe Jean Pierre.

White Racism refuses to judge Blacks the way we judge Whites. It’s what G.W. Bush called “the soft bigotry of low expectations.” But I don’t think there’s anything soft about it. It’s straight up racism, hiding behind a mask of cowardice. It lower standards everywhere. It elevates people into undeserved positions overlooking training, experience, better candidates. You make life less safe out of fairness. From crime fighting units to the military, standards are lower to fill positions. Well, except for the NBA. But if you made it more white, you’d be lowering the quality of play.

We predicted that as police became more maligned and many retire, others will just leave for more lucrative private gigs. So who’s going to take that job? Well, anyone that applies. They’re less selective than when I was single. So what if that Scorpion group, a newly formed police group that killed Mr. Nichols, were recruited on just merit alone? Would you have seen the same outcome? Who knows? Maybe. Perhaps of the five cops, there would have been different skill sets and temperaments and experience. You know, diversity where it counts and not just for show.

Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday announced the state’s first-ever border czar to address the influx of migrants coming through the U.S.-Mexico border.

Abbott tapped veteran Border Patrol agent Mike Banks to serve as “special adviser on border matters to the governor,” in response to the Biden administration’s handling of the border crisis.

“For nearly two years, the state of Texas has taken unprecedented, historic action under Operation Lone Star in response to the Biden administration’s refusal to secure the border,” Abbott said at a news conference on a border wall construction site in San Benito, Texas. “To continue doing what no other state in the history of our country has done to secure the border, I hired Mike Banks as the state of Texas’ first-ever border czar.” 

“As an award-winning Border Patrol agent, with decades of federal law enforcement and border security experience, Mike is the perfect choice to oversee Texas’ fight against the surge of illegal immigration, lethal drugs, and deadly weapons flowing into our state and nation,” the governor continued. “I have no doubt that Mike’s strong record of leadership and wealth of experience will provide Texans — and Americans — the level of border security expertise they deserve from a proper border czar.” 

AMID 2022’S MASSIVE MIGRANT SURGE, NUMBERS IN ICE DETENTION REMAIN LOW

Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday announced the state’s first-ever border czar to address the influx of migrants coming through the Mexico border.
(Twitter/Greg Abbott)

Banks, Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Director Steve McCraw and Texas Military Department (TMD) Maj. Gen. Thomas Suelzer were present for Abbott’s announcement.

“I am humbled to be selected by Governor Abbott for this opportunity,” Banks said. “Protecting our nation’s border is something I have dedicated the last 23 years of my life to, and I am very passionate about it. I look forward to strengthening our relationships with law enforcement partners and the community, leveraging all that we can to further protect our great state of Texas and the United States.”

NEARLY 300,000 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS SLIPPED PAST BORDER AGENTS IN LESS THAN FOUR MONTHS: SOURCES

Abbott tapped veteran Border Patrol agent Mike Banks to serve in the role, in response to the Biden administration’s handling of the border crisis.
(Twitter/Greg Abbott)

The new Texas border czar is expected to collaborate daily with DPS, TMD and other state agencies, local officials and Texas landowners to deter and prevent migrants from entering Texas illegally through the Mexico border. He also is expected to advise Abbott on situations and strategies at the border, including plans to address migrant surges. He will be based out of Weslaco and travel along the border when necessary.

Banks has more than 30 years of federal law enforcement leadership experience, including 23 years in border security operations and administration along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Abbott has been highly critical of the Biden administration for its handling of the border, which has seen record numbers of illegal crossings since the president took office in January 2021. 

Abbott has been highly critical of the Biden administration for its handling of the border, which has seen record numbers of illegal crossings since the president took office in January 2021. 
(Twitter/Greg Abbott)

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In response to what he’s described as the federal government’s inaction on border security, the governor has launched several initiatives aimed at addressing the border crisis, including sending buses of migrants to sanctuary cities like Washington, D.C., and New York City, allocating $4 billion in funding for Texas’ border security efforts and deploying thousands of Texas National Guard soldiers and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers.

“No governor has dedicated more time, energy, and effort in terms of public safety, homeland security, and border security than Governor Abbott,” McCraw said at Monday’s news conference.

A load of more than 60 Bradley fighting vehicles departed South Carolina for Ukraine last week as part of the latest $2.5 billion package in military aid that the Biden administration announced earlier this month.  

The armored vehicle, named after World War II Gen. Omar Bradley, is operated by three crew members and can transport up to seven infantry around the battlefield. 

It’s outfitted with a 25mm automatic cannon, as well as a 7.62 Coaxial Machine Gun and an anti-tank missile launcher. 

Bradley fighting vehicles being loaded on to the ARC Integrity at the Transportation Core Dock in North Charleston, South Carolina.
(U.S. Transportation Command photo by Oz Suguitan)

Bradley fighting vehicles in South Carolina on Jan. 25 before departing for Ukraine. 
(U.S. Transportation Command photo by Oz Suguitan)

“The Bradley is a very powerful vehicle that we are providing to the Ukrainians,” Army Lt. Col. Rebecca D’Angelo, the 841st Transportation Battalion commander who is overseeing the transport, said on Monday. 

“This is going to hopefully enhance their capabilities to provide forward advancement in the battlefield and regain lost grounds, by having equipment that matches or exceeds what the Russians have.”

UKRAINE-RUSSIA WAR: GERMANY AGREES TO SEND 2 BATTALIONS OF LEOPARD 2 TANKS AFTER HEAVY PRESSURE

After months of resistance, the Biden administration agreed to send 31 Abrams M1 tanks to Ukraine last week. 

Germany, the United Kingdom, and other allied partners also announced they’d be sending their own tanks to help fend off Russia’s invasion. 

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Army M1A1 Abrams tank fires during NATO enhanced Forward Presence battle group military exercise Crystal Arrow 2021 in Adazi, Latvia March 26, 2021. 
(REUTERS/Ints Kalnins/File Photo)

The U.S. has also sent 90 Stryker combat vehicles, about 1,700 Humvees, dozens of mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles, and other armored vehicles. 

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, renewed calls last week for the U.S. and Germany to send fighter jets to Ukraine. 

DONETSK, UKRAINE – JANUARY 07: Ukrainian soldiers work with “pion” artillery in the northern direction of the Donbass frontline as Russia-Ukraine war continues in Donetsk, Ukraine on January 7, 2023.
(Photo by Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

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Russia, meanwhile, is growing increasingly wary of support for Ukraine by the U.S. and Europe. 

“There are constant statements from European capitals and Washington that the sending of various weapons systems to Ukraine, including tanks, in no way signifies the involvement of these countries or the alliance in hostilities in Ukraine,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said last week, according to Reuters. 

“We categorically disagree with this, and in Moscow, everything that the alliance and the capitals I mentioned are doing is seen as direct involvement in the conflict.”

Fox News’ Caitlin McFall contributed to this report. 

The International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit officially starts Tuesday in Washington, D.C. The event will have a range of discussions to increase public awareness and political strength for the international religious freedom movement.

The summit kicked off its pre-event activities with Congressional Advocacy Day to bring together lawmakers, ambassadors and survivors of persecution on Monday.

Advocates held more than 200 hundred meetings on Capitol Hill with both Republican and Democrat lawmakers, representing a various range of faith communities.

Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Massachusetts, center, meets with IRF advocates. (IRF Summit)

“We were tapping into the very best of what America has to offer … undeniable religious freedom for everyone, everywhere. We’ve seen that the U.S. has led in many respects on this in the human rights arms of both the Senate and the House in a bipartisan way,” Congressional Advocacy Day Co-chair Amjad Khan told Fox Digital.

FORMER NBA STAR CALLS OUT PERSECUTION AT RELIGIOUS FREEDOM SUMMIT

Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, says he was proud that last year Congress reauthorized the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom to continue to shine a light on persecution around the world.

The commission was created in 1998 under the International Religious Freedom Act to independently assess and confront threats to religious freedom.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., meets with IRF advocates. (IRF Summit)

The Foreign Affairs Committee chairman is an honorary House congressional co-chair for the summit and told Fox News Digital, “Pope Francis said it best when he said, ‘Religious freedom is a fundamental human right.’ Unfortunately, religious freedoms are increasingly under assault around the world.”

According to a Pew Research Center report, Christianity followed by Islam and Judaism are the three most restricted (persecuted) faiths.

CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION RISING AROUND THE WORLD AMID JIHADISM, TOTALITARIANISM: REPORT

Khan says Congress can do more for religious freedoms by shining a spotlight on prisoners of conscience.

Co-chair of Congressional Advocacy Day Amjad Khan speaks at the Capitol Visitor Center leading up to the International Religious Freedom Summit. (IRF Summit)

“I don’t think that the House has adopted any prisoners of conscience [legislation] yet in the new session. That’s not right. We have so many prisoners of conscience who are suffering right now in jail just for believing in their faith. People need to know their stories, share their stories, because that’s how we can be an advocate for them,” he added.

DOZENS OF CHRISTIAN GRAVES TOPPLED, DEFACED IN HISTORIC JERUSALEM CEMETERY: ‘CLEAR HATE CRIME’

More than 1,000 religious freedom advocates are expected to meet Tuesday in Washington, D.C., for the start of the International Religious Freedom Summit.

Screenwriter Gregory Allen Howard, who skillfully adapted stories of historical Black figures in “Remember the Titans” starring Denzel Washington, “Ali” with Will Smith and “Harriet” with Cynthia Erivo, has died. He was 70.

Howard died Friday at a hospital in Miami of heart failure, according to publicist Jeff Sanderson.

Howard was the first Black screenwriter to write a drama that made $100 million at the box office when “Titans” crossed that milestone in 2000. It was about a real-life Black coach coming into a newly integrated Virginia school and helping lead their football team to victory. It had the iconic line: “I don’t care if you like each other or not. But you will respect each other.”

‘1923’ STAR HARRISON FORD ON THE SECRET TO HIS DECADES-LONG CAREER: ‘I’VE BEEN VERY LUCKY’

Howard said he shopped the story around Hollywood with no success. So he took a chance and wrote the screenplay himself. ″They didn’t expect it to make much money, but it became a monster, making $100 million,” he said. “It made my career,” he told the Times-Herald of Vallejo, California, in 2009. The film made the Associated Press’ list of the best 25 sports movies ever made.

Howard followed up “Remember the Titans” with “Ali,” the 2002 Michael Mann-directed biopic of Muhammad Ali. Smith famously bulked up to play Ali and was nominated for a best actor Oscar.

Pictured: Gregory Allen Howard attends The Orpheum Theatre on Oct. 29, 2019, in Los Angeles, California. Gregory Allen Howard who wrote “Remember the Titans” died at age 70 in Miami due to heart failure. 
(Leon Bennett/WireImage)

Howard also produced and co-wrote 2019′s “Harriet,” about abolitionist Harriet Tubman. Erivo lead a cast, that included Leslie Odom Jr., Clarke Peters and Joe Alwyn.

“I got into this business to write about the complexity of the Black man. I wanted to write about Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Marcus Garvey. I think it takes a Black man to write about Black men,” he told the Times-Herald.

SHARON STONE SAYS HER KIDS CAN ‘AUCTION’ OFF HER MOVIE COSTUMES WHEN SHE DIES TO MAKE UP FOR GENDER PAY GAP

Born in Virginia, his family moved often due to his stepfather’s career in the Navy. After attending Princeton University, graduating with a degree in American history, Howard briefly worked at Merrill Lynch on Wall Street before moving to Los Angeles in his mid-20s to pursue a writing career.

He wrote for TV and penned the play “Tinseltown Trilogy,” which focused on three men in Los Angeles over Christmastime as their stories interconnect and inform each other.

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Howard also wrote “The Harlem Renaissance,” a limited series for HBO, “Misty,” the story of prima ballerina Misty Copeland and “This Little Light,” the Fannie Lou Hamer story. Most recently, he wrote the civil rights project “Power to the People” for producer Ben Affleck and Paramount Pictures.

He is survived by a sister, Lynette Henley; a brother, Michael Henley; two nieces and a nephew.

A bystander was struck by gunfire during a shootout between a suspect and officers at a recreational vehicle park in northwestern Arizona, authorities said.

Bullhead City police said officers went to the Silver View RV Resort on Friday to investigate reports of a man in a bulletproof vest pointing a gun at people.

From inside a trailer, the suspect shot at officers, who returned fire, police said in a statement. One of the rounds from the suspect ripped through another trailer “and struck an innocent bystander.”

The victim was taken about 95 miles north to a Las Vegas hospital and was expected to survive. No officers were hurt.

ARIZONA’S CRIME CONCERNS COULD JEOPARDIZE LITTLE ROCK MAYOR’S REELECTION
 

A man who was waving a gun at people in a bulletproof vest at an Arizona RV park was taken into custody after eight hours of locking himself in a trailer. An innocent bystander was struck during the shootout and was treated at the hospital. 

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Police identified the suspect Saturday as Bullhead City resident Kyle Schafer, 41, but did not say what charges he may face.

Schafer locked himself inside his trailer for nearly eight hours before surrendering and being taken into custody, police said. He was also brought to a Las Vegas hospital, with unspecified injuries.

Bullhead City is located on the Arizona side of the Colorado River, near the juncture with Nevada and California. It is home to about 41,000 people.

An outside agency, Lake Havasu City Police, will investigate the shooting for Bullhead City police in line with the department’s protocol for cases where officers fire their weapons.

The World Health Organization will push at its board meeting this week for an expanded role in tackling the next global health emergency after COVID-19, but is still seeking answers on how to fund it, according to health policy experts.

The Geneva meeting sets the programme for the U.N. agency this year – as well as its future budget – with the WHO facing two key challenges: a world that expects ever more from its leading health body, but which has not yet proven willing to fund it to tackle those challenges.

At the Executive Board’s annual meeting from Jan. 30-Feb. 7, countries will give feedback on WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’ global strategy to strengthen readiness for the next pandemic which includes a binding treaty currently being negotiated.

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“I think the focus is very much on the programme budget, then sustainable financing,” Timothy Armstrong, WHO director for governing bodies, told journalists when asked about the agenda.

Also on his list was “the position of the World Health Organization, recognizing there is a need for a reinforced central role for WHO” in the global health emergency system.

The WHO is seeking a record $6.86 billion for the 2024-2025 budget, saying that approving this sum would be “a historic move towards a more empowered and independent WHO”.

A woman receives a booster dose of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in Bangkok, Thailand, on Jan. 5, 2023.
(REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha)

But approval will require member states to make good on promises made last year to hike mandatory fees – a fact which is uncertain since the deal was always subject to conditions.

“What we are currently seeing is that some member states are now trying to pre-condition lots of things,” said a source close to the talks, saying it “remains to be seen” if all countries will commit to raising fees. Reuters could not immediately establish which countries might withhold support.

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The current base budget, which does not include the funding changes, has a nearly $1 billion financing hole, a WHO document showed – although that gap is not unusual at this point, two sources added. However, one did add that it was “absurd” that the WHO still has to scrabble for money after COVID-19.

“It’s a huge knot,” said Nicoletta Dentico, the co-chair of the civil society platform the Geneval Global Health Hub. “The weakness of WHO is under our eyes.”

The agency is also considering starting big replenishment rounds every few years to top up its coffers, a document showed.

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Pandemic Preparation

The WHO, which celebrates its 75-year anniversary having been set up in 1948, will also use the meeting to advocate for a boosted role in pandemic preparedness, documents showed.

Tedros will call for a Global Health Emergency Council to be set up linked to WHO governance. However, external experts have said such a council needs higher-level political leadership.

“Given that pandemic threats involve and impact almost every sector, it must be an outcome of a UN General Assembly resolution, be appointed by and accountable to it,” Helen Clark, former prime minister of New Zealand and head of the independent panel set up to review the handling of COVID, told Reuters.

Indonesian police said on Monday a local trader of industrial-grade chemicals sold them as pharmaceutical-grade, leading to their use in medicated syrups that authorities suspect may have caused deaths of more than 200 children across the country.

Authorities have said two ingredients, ethylene glycol (EG) and diethyelene glycol (DEG), found in some syrup-based paracetamol medications are linked to acute kidney injury, which many of the children suffered.

The two ingredients are used in antifreeze, brake fluids and other industrial applications, but also as a cheaper alternative in some pharmaceutical products to glycerine, which is a solvent or thickening agent in many cough syrups. They can be toxic and can lead to acute kidney injury.

INDONESIA COURT HEARS LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST PHARMACIES AFTER 200 CHILDREN DIE FROM TAINTED COUGH SYRUP

Pipit Rismanto, a senior police official, told reporters authorities have found that CV Samudera Chemical sold “industrial-grade” EG and DEG as pharmaceutical-grade propylene glycol manufactured by Dow Chemical Thailand and supplied them to distributors of local drug-makers.

Police have arrested and charged officials at Samudera and its distributor CV Anugrah Perdana Gemilang. More suspects may be named as the investigation continues, Pipit said.

A cough medication is poured on Oct. 19, 2022. 
(REUTERS/Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana/Illustration)

Reuters could not immediately reach CV Samudera Chemical or its distributor for comment.

Riswan Sipayung, the president director of Dow Indonesia, said the company was “committed to working with the government, distributors and industry partners to do our part in mitigating the pervasive and urgent issue of counterfeiting and tackling this industry-wide problem with all stakeholders”.

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Last week, The World Health Organization called for “immediate and concerted action” to protect children from contaminated medicines after about 300 deaths in Gambia, Uzbekistan, and Indonesia linked to cough syrups last year.

Twenty-five Indonesian families of some of the children demanded restitution as a court this month started hearing their class-action lawsuit against government agencies and pharmaceutical firms.

Indonesia’s drugs regulator (BPOM) has said the spike in the cases occurred as several parties “exploited a gap in the safety guarantee system” and pharmaceutical companies did not sufficiently check the raw ingredients they used.